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The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the 19th Century
The impact of constant technological change upon our perception of the world is so pervasive as to have become a commonplace of modern society. But this was not always the case; as Wolfgang Schivelbusch points out in this fascinating study, our adaptation to technological changethe development of our modern, industrialized consciousnesswas very much a learned behavior. In The Railway Journey , Schivelbusch examines the origins of this industrialized consciousness by exploring the reaction in the nineteenth century to the first dramatic avatar of technological change, the railroad.
In a highly original and engaging fashion, Schivelbusch discusses the ways in which our perceptions of distance, time, autonomy, speed, and risk were altered by railway travel. As a history of the surprising ways in which technology and culture interact, this book covers a wide range of topics, including the changing perception of landscapes, the death of conversation while traveling, the problematic nature of the railway compartment, the space of glass architecture, the pathology of the railway journey, industrial fatigue and the history of shock, and the railroad and the city.
Belonging to a distinguished European tradition of critical sociology best exemplified by the work of Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, The Railway Journey is anchored in rich empirical data and full of striking insights about railway travel, the industrial revolution, and technological change. Now updated with a new preface, The Railway Journey is an invaluable resource for readers interested in nineteenth-century culture and technology and the prehistory of modern media and digitalization.
In a highly original and engaging fashion, Schivelbusch discusses the ways in which our perceptions of distance, time, autonomy, speed, and risk were altered by railway travel. As a history of the surprising ways in which technology and culture interact, this book covers a wide range of topics, including the changing perception of landscapes, the death of conversation while traveling, the problematic nature of the railway compartment, the space of glass architecture, the pathology of the railway journey, industrial fatigue and the history of shock, and the railroad and the city.
Belonging to a distinguished European tradition of critical sociology best exemplified by the work of Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, The Railway Journey is anchored in rich empirical data and full of striking insights about railway travel, the industrial revolution, and technological change. Now updated with a new preface, The Railway Journey is an invaluable resource for readers interested in nineteenth-century culture and technology and the prehistory of modern media and digitalization.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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September 2, 2018Since I read this book with twinkling eyes and a smile on my face I tenderly recommend it to other readers, at least those who are interested in trains.
What this is, is a cultural history, culture very broadly understood, of the railway.
At first everything seemed so familiar that I could hardly perceive the insight. It helped to remember that this book has been rattling around since 1977. Long enough for others to have drawn from it and for its messages to have passed through many stations.
It builds up steam towards the industrialisation of travel, with the traveller as product, delivered to their destination. Unless you are in the USA, in which case you are shipped. And that distinction is one of the points of the book. Schivelbusch tells us that rail travel was for many people their only experience of an industrial process. The violence, disruption, overthrow of traditional approaches, alien discipline and structure, all experienced by workers in industrial workplaces was shared in by the travel experience of rail travellers.
At the same time as all this newness existed there was also no blank slate, no white page. Even a new technology – and you may have noticed this if you have switched from a paper system to an electronic one in your working life – does not start out to realise its own potential but instead seeks to replicate what already exists.
You travel from a form of warehouse to another warehouse, at a given time - not traditional time determined by the position of the Sun - but one decided by the Rail company (as many as four different times applied in a Pittsburgh station which served multiple companies).
The arrival of the railway industrialised the layout of cities by creating new intense flows of traffic to and from the station. Stations, particularly the great terminus stations on the verges of major cities, needed arterial roads capable of servicing them with goods and passengers. At the same time the need for storage and sidings turned the areas around stations into industrialised zones.
However all the same in Europe railway carriages were constructed like coaches (as in coaches and horses). There was a deliberate intention to make the new mode of transport look like one familiar to upper-classes travellers, even though it was profoundly different to what they were familiar with. Now the traveller was to have no voice in the transport process - while on a coach you could bang on the roof to get the driver's attention for him to pull over for you to be sick by the road side, this was not an option on the early train services which had no communication cords.
The train maintained traditional class divisions, nowadays only two classes remain, but originally there were up to four. In Europe the railway ran as straight as possible , cuttings were dug, embankments built up, tunnels and viaducts constructed because land was expensive while labour was cheap. In the USA, the opposite was true. Labour was expensive, while land was everywhere. There the railroad conformed to the contours of the landscape, it brought the passenger to the wild places of the country (while in Europe it reduced the landscape to make industrialised travel possible), it was a form of industrialisation that made the settlement of much of the country practicable while in all ways it sought to reproduce the familiar feel of steamboat travel, an influence still built into language – hence items are shipped in the USA while in the rest of the English speaking world we are a bit drier and prefer dispatching or even plain sending.
Lets go back a bit. A train journey and a book are similar in that set off with a destination in mind with a number of stops en route. Reaching the destination is only possible by at least travelling through those stops, in this case a series of chapters. Alternatively this book is like being on a station concourse. You come in through an imposing entrance to a different kind of space, open, enclosed, industrial, are buffeted as you watch the departure board, there is a book shop concession, platforms. One can experience each part separately or in relation to the whole.
So here we have Freud , Norbert Ellias, Foucault , Zola, WH Smith , Baron Hausseman , Hachette , the meaning of the word shock, the violence of the language used to describe the early train journeys revealing the early fears of the travellers, the fear of going off the rails, the transformative role of the railways in business, in architecture, in industrialisation, as an industrial process itself with the passenger as product, creating standardised time...Anyhow read this read, I recommend it, tenderly, with amusement, with a violent pop of fizzing ideas and inter-linkages, literature, architecture, politics...the physical transformation of the city, the creation of the wrong side of the tracks...
Implicit in Schivelbusch's discussion is how we understand the world through metaphor and simile, however the new phenomena is coloured, or perhaps take on the flavour, of the object of comparison. By creating or applying simile and metaphor we create new ways of thinking about things, so railway accidents led to the creation of the concept of metal fatigue, which was an adoption of the earlier notion of the fatigue that the traveller experienced on those early journeys on trains without suspension. The phenomena of the shock experienced on physically uninjured survivors of train accidents led to the creation of a concept of physic shock which was then on a siding, ready for the First World War, to be rolled out as shell shock, but this isn't a purely medical issue - it has legal implications. This is the joy of the book, the railway journey steams through swathes of nineteenth century consciousness. It is as a book in every way unlike the railway journey I was engaged upon when I finished reading it as I found myself waiting at a rural station without facilities when my train was cancelled . Still at least I had another book to start once I had finished this one...since as Schivelbusch observes the train journey led to the death of conversation – at least in the upper class compartments – the open box cars used to carry Fourth class passengers where apparently jolly places – no doubt resulting from the shared experience of the wind and rain.
The book concludes with the notion of circulation. Schivelbusch has already earlier mentioned how in Europe the upper classes retreated beyond the points made accessible by rail. Since they withdrew beyond the circulation of the rail-network they appeared diseased, medieval, subversive, threatening (p195). In this new bourgeois world communication, exchange, motion bring to humanity enlightenment and progress (p197). To take my favourite example, which I have mentioned possibly in a good half-dozen goodreads reviews already, in Tess of the D'urbervilles, Tess is outside the modern world of circulation, she is trapped in prehistory, at the same the milk she has coxed from bovine udders is rushed up to London on trains - it is part of the world of circulation, it can only exist as a commodity because of the railway since it is only the railway that makes milk production in the far west country to serve the London market commercially viable. Equally one can consider Bleak House, the Lincolnshire great house was in the past a nexus of influence but in the Victorian present is another dinosaur. Aristocratic values are opposed to the new industrial world with bourgeois ideals.
The rail-network is both a crucial part of the physical infrastructure of the country and of the mind.
Not that we readers are to left to imagine that there was no more than what was claimed of it, as Schivelbusch concludes: the railroad, the destroyer of time and space, thus also destroyed the educational experience of the Grand Tour. Henceforth, the localities were no longer spatially individual or autonomous: they were points in the circulation of traffic that made them accessible. As we have seen, that traffic was the physical manifestation of the circulation of goods. From that time on, the places visited by the traveller became increasingly similar to the commodities that were part of the same circulation system. For the twentieth-century tourist, the world has become one huge department store of countrysides and cities (p197)
What this is, is a cultural history, culture very broadly understood, of the railway.
At first everything seemed so familiar that I could hardly perceive the insight. It helped to remember that this book has been rattling around since 1977. Long enough for others to have drawn from it and for its messages to have passed through many stations.
It builds up steam towards the industrialisation of travel, with the traveller as product, delivered to their destination. Unless you are in the USA, in which case you are shipped. And that distinction is one of the points of the book. Schivelbusch tells us that rail travel was for many people their only experience of an industrial process. The violence, disruption, overthrow of traditional approaches, alien discipline and structure, all experienced by workers in industrial workplaces was shared in by the travel experience of rail travellers.
At the same time as all this newness existed there was also no blank slate, no white page. Even a new technology – and you may have noticed this if you have switched from a paper system to an electronic one in your working life – does not start out to realise its own potential but instead seeks to replicate what already exists.
You travel from a form of warehouse to another warehouse, at a given time - not traditional time determined by the position of the Sun - but one decided by the Rail company (as many as four different times applied in a Pittsburgh station which served multiple companies).
The arrival of the railway industrialised the layout of cities by creating new intense flows of traffic to and from the station. Stations, particularly the great terminus stations on the verges of major cities, needed arterial roads capable of servicing them with goods and passengers. At the same time the need for storage and sidings turned the areas around stations into industrialised zones.
However all the same in Europe railway carriages were constructed like coaches (as in coaches and horses). There was a deliberate intention to make the new mode of transport look like one familiar to upper-classes travellers, even though it was profoundly different to what they were familiar with. Now the traveller was to have no voice in the transport process - while on a coach you could bang on the roof to get the driver's attention for him to pull over for you to be sick by the road side, this was not an option on the early train services which had no communication cords.
The train maintained traditional class divisions, nowadays only two classes remain, but originally there were up to four. In Europe the railway ran as straight as possible , cuttings were dug, embankments built up, tunnels and viaducts constructed because land was expensive while labour was cheap. In the USA, the opposite was true. Labour was expensive, while land was everywhere. There the railroad conformed to the contours of the landscape, it brought the passenger to the wild places of the country (while in Europe it reduced the landscape to make industrialised travel possible), it was a form of industrialisation that made the settlement of much of the country practicable while in all ways it sought to reproduce the familiar feel of steamboat travel, an influence still built into language – hence items are shipped in the USA while in the rest of the English speaking world we are a bit drier and prefer dispatching or even plain sending.
Lets go back a bit. A train journey and a book are similar in that set off with a destination in mind with a number of stops en route. Reaching the destination is only possible by at least travelling through those stops, in this case a series of chapters. Alternatively this book is like being on a station concourse. You come in through an imposing entrance to a different kind of space, open, enclosed, industrial, are buffeted as you watch the departure board, there is a book shop concession, platforms. One can experience each part separately or in relation to the whole.
So here we have Freud , Norbert Ellias, Foucault , Zola, WH Smith , Baron Hausseman , Hachette , the meaning of the word shock, the violence of the language used to describe the early train journeys revealing the early fears of the travellers, the fear of going off the rails, the transformative role of the railways in business, in architecture, in industrialisation, as an industrial process itself with the passenger as product, creating standardised time...Anyhow read this read, I recommend it, tenderly, with amusement, with a violent pop of fizzing ideas and inter-linkages, literature, architecture, politics...the physical transformation of the city, the creation of the wrong side of the tracks...
Implicit in Schivelbusch's discussion is how we understand the world through metaphor and simile, however the new phenomena is coloured, or perhaps take on the flavour, of the object of comparison. By creating or applying simile and metaphor we create new ways of thinking about things, so railway accidents led to the creation of the concept of metal fatigue, which was an adoption of the earlier notion of the fatigue that the traveller experienced on those early journeys on trains without suspension. The phenomena of the shock experienced on physically uninjured survivors of train accidents led to the creation of a concept of physic shock which was then on a siding, ready for the First World War, to be rolled out as shell shock, but this isn't a purely medical issue - it has legal implications. This is the joy of the book, the railway journey steams through swathes of nineteenth century consciousness. It is as a book in every way unlike the railway journey I was engaged upon when I finished reading it as I found myself waiting at a rural station without facilities when my train was cancelled . Still at least I had another book to start once I had finished this one...since as Schivelbusch observes the train journey led to the death of conversation – at least in the upper class compartments – the open box cars used to carry Fourth class passengers where apparently jolly places – no doubt resulting from the shared experience of the wind and rain.
The book concludes with the notion of circulation. Schivelbusch has already earlier mentioned how in Europe the upper classes retreated beyond the points made accessible by rail. Since they withdrew beyond the circulation of the rail-network they appeared diseased, medieval, subversive, threatening (p195). In this new bourgeois world communication, exchange, motion bring to humanity enlightenment and progress (p197). To take my favourite example, which I have mentioned possibly in a good half-dozen goodreads reviews already, in Tess of the D'urbervilles, Tess is outside the modern world of circulation, she is trapped in prehistory, at the same the milk she has coxed from bovine udders is rushed up to London on trains - it is part of the world of circulation, it can only exist as a commodity because of the railway since it is only the railway that makes milk production in the far west country to serve the London market commercially viable. Equally one can consider Bleak House, the Lincolnshire great house was in the past a nexus of influence but in the Victorian present is another dinosaur. Aristocratic values are opposed to the new industrial world with bourgeois ideals.
The rail-network is both a crucial part of the physical infrastructure of the country and of the mind.
Not that we readers are to left to imagine that there was no more than what was claimed of it, as Schivelbusch concludes: the railroad, the destroyer of time and space, thus also destroyed the educational experience of the Grand Tour. Henceforth, the localities were no longer spatially individual or autonomous: they were points in the circulation of traffic that made them accessible. As we have seen, that traffic was the physical manifestation of the circulation of goods. From that time on, the places visited by the traveller became increasingly similar to the commodities that were part of the same circulation system. For the twentieth-century tourist, the world has become one huge department store of countrysides and cities (p197)
January 28, 2019
This history of rail travel in the Nineteenth Century provides a platform for author Schivelbusch to scan seemingly unrelated terrain to draw connections. He brings aboard such topics as the changing use of shock in the military, the evolution of medical and legal ties to injuries from train accidents, and the links to department stores in Paris. He doesn't get derailed anywhere, but the trips sometimes seem to be running a bit slowly.
As a cultural historian, he is adept at showing the relationships among a range of topics, such as those above, and more. His focus is on the introduction and growth of rail travel in Europe, primarily France and England. He diverts several times to developments in the United States. In the latter instance, he explains, in detail, the important role played by steamboats forging internal transportation corridors by water. The design of passenger accommodations aboard set
a standard railroads envied and tried to match.
This 1977 book is a product of a younger Schivelbusch, but his research, writing, and production of interesting, expansive footnotes are already evident. His later droll sense of humor is not yet evident here. There are many illustrations, footnotes, as mentioned, but no index.
England led in the introduction and development of rail transport as part of the industrial revolution. First goods, then people, were transported by this new technology. The author describes the hodgepodge of local lines that sprang up and the early considerations of just who could put their conveyance on the rails. Toll roads and canals had allowed just such freedom, but that arrangement was impossible with rail travel. As people took to riding trains, their basis of comparison was the horse drawn coach. The rail coach moved at much faster speeds. For a time the apprehension of riders nearly negated the saving of time. The author explains how this rapid mode of travel altered the relationship between rider and the scenery. The higher speed had the effect of blurring out the near field of vision. Focusing on the more easily perceived mid and farther distance landscape produced what Schivelbusch calls "panoramic" views. Riders had mixed reactions to this. One solution was to read while traveling, an activity that was soon supported by the publishing industry with a flood of books and newspapers sold to travelers at the station. Reading also helped overcome the difficulty of talking with other passengers because of the noise of rail travel. The rail coaches could be entered only from the platform at the station and there was no internal mobility between cabins. Several murders caused great hysteria among riders, who started traveling armed.
Accidents similarly caused fear among riders. Indeed, traveling at speed left many passengers with a feeling of apprehension about what might happen. The lack of any personal control over their conveyance was also a concern. When accident did occur, they were quite violent because of the speed involved, and there were numerous fatalities and injuries. Among those injuries were what we would today call PTSD related. This leads Schivelbusch into the examination of medical and legal developments in society. Tort lawyers may find this part of interest. Sigmund Freud is one of the sources frequently referenced throughout his book, as he is in this section. The psychology of trauma is what leads to the incorporation of military operations over time, particularly with regard to shock. An extended discussion leads to the "Shell Shock" victims of World War I combat and their psychic trauma.
How communities dealt with the increasing importance of railways leads to consideration of urban planning for modern technology in cities often still tied to their medieval origins. Paris is used as an example for this topic. The redesign of the city under Baron Haussmann in the late 1850s is
the link to the origin of department store and the new mode of commerce that entailed. Central to that new mode was the concept of traffic flow, both along the new boulevards and through the stores themselves. That flow, or circulation, Schivelbusch ties back to the ever increasing circulation of people that the railroad facilitated. He closes his loops.
History in this man's hands is a gem of many facets. Readers of diverse interests will find sections of reward in this book. Only four stars, but they are solid stars, so I will recommend it for general readers as well as specialists.
As a cultural historian, he is adept at showing the relationships among a range of topics, such as those above, and more. His focus is on the introduction and growth of rail travel in Europe, primarily France and England. He diverts several times to developments in the United States. In the latter instance, he explains, in detail, the important role played by steamboats forging internal transportation corridors by water. The design of passenger accommodations aboard set
a standard railroads envied and tried to match.
This 1977 book is a product of a younger Schivelbusch, but his research, writing, and production of interesting, expansive footnotes are already evident. His later droll sense of humor is not yet evident here. There are many illustrations, footnotes, as mentioned, but no index.
England led in the introduction and development of rail transport as part of the industrial revolution. First goods, then people, were transported by this new technology. The author describes the hodgepodge of local lines that sprang up and the early considerations of just who could put their conveyance on the rails. Toll roads and canals had allowed just such freedom, but that arrangement was impossible with rail travel. As people took to riding trains, their basis of comparison was the horse drawn coach. The rail coach moved at much faster speeds. For a time the apprehension of riders nearly negated the saving of time. The author explains how this rapid mode of travel altered the relationship between rider and the scenery. The higher speed had the effect of blurring out the near field of vision. Focusing on the more easily perceived mid and farther distance landscape produced what Schivelbusch calls "panoramic" views. Riders had mixed reactions to this. One solution was to read while traveling, an activity that was soon supported by the publishing industry with a flood of books and newspapers sold to travelers at the station. Reading also helped overcome the difficulty of talking with other passengers because of the noise of rail travel. The rail coaches could be entered only from the platform at the station and there was no internal mobility between cabins. Several murders caused great hysteria among riders, who started traveling armed.
Accidents similarly caused fear among riders. Indeed, traveling at speed left many passengers with a feeling of apprehension about what might happen. The lack of any personal control over their conveyance was also a concern. When accident did occur, they were quite violent because of the speed involved, and there were numerous fatalities and injuries. Among those injuries were what we would today call PTSD related. This leads Schivelbusch into the examination of medical and legal developments in society. Tort lawyers may find this part of interest. Sigmund Freud is one of the sources frequently referenced throughout his book, as he is in this section. The psychology of trauma is what leads to the incorporation of military operations over time, particularly with regard to shock. An extended discussion leads to the "Shell Shock" victims of World War I combat and their psychic trauma.
How communities dealt with the increasing importance of railways leads to consideration of urban planning for modern technology in cities often still tied to their medieval origins. Paris is used as an example for this topic. The redesign of the city under Baron Haussmann in the late 1850s is
the link to the origin of department store and the new mode of commerce that entailed. Central to that new mode was the concept of traffic flow, both along the new boulevards and through the stores themselves. That flow, or circulation, Schivelbusch ties back to the ever increasing circulation of people that the railroad facilitated. He closes his loops.
History in this man's hands is a gem of many facets. Readers of diverse interests will find sections of reward in this book. Only four stars, but they are solid stars, so I will recommend it for general readers as well as specialists.
February 15, 2022
Tää on selkeä 3,5/5 tähden kirja. Todella sisältöpitoinen ja ehdottomasti täydensi ajatuksia teollistumisesta. Rautateitä ja niiden vaikutusta ylipäätään kaikkeen kuvattiin monista eri näkökulmista, ja kirjaan sisällytettiin hienosti ihmisen muuttuva käsitys.
Tiedän että kirjan ei ollut tarkoituskaan missään nimessä olla mikään mahtavin lukukokemus, sillä kyseessä on kuitenkin ihan tietokirja, mutta silti lukeminen tökki todella paljon. Luin teoksen siis extra materiaalina historiaa varten, joten tukea kirja siinä mielessä antoi faktapläjäyksellään.
Vaikka kirja sisälsi suuret määrät faktoja, lukija pääsee tarkkailemaan tilannetta kuitenkin helposti lähestyttävästä kulmasta, eli ihmisten kautta. Tekstikatkelmia muista teoksista on runsaasti, ja ne on sulautettu teokseen todella hyvin. Teksteistä näkee konkreettisesti ajatusten variaatiota ääripäästä toiseen, ja meidän nykykulttuuriamme vasten niiden kautta muuten faktaperäistä rautateiden historiaa on helpompi seurata.
Tiedän että kirjan ei ollut tarkoituskaan missään nimessä olla mikään mahtavin lukukokemus, sillä kyseessä on kuitenkin ihan tietokirja, mutta silti lukeminen tökki todella paljon. Luin teoksen siis extra materiaalina historiaa varten, joten tukea kirja siinä mielessä antoi faktapläjäyksellään.
Vaikka kirja sisälsi suuret määrät faktoja, lukija pääsee tarkkailemaan tilannetta kuitenkin helposti lähestyttävästä kulmasta, eli ihmisten kautta. Tekstikatkelmia muista teoksista on runsaasti, ja ne on sulautettu teokseen todella hyvin. Teksteistä näkee konkreettisesti ajatusten variaatiota ääripäästä toiseen, ja meidän nykykulttuuriamme vasten niiden kautta muuten faktaperäistä rautateiden historiaa on helpompi seurata.
February 3, 2024
i probably wouldn’t have read this if it wasn’t required reading for school but it was interesting if you are into like trains or capitalist development and whatnot
September 27, 2013
When Wolfie sticks to the nitty-gritty, the experience of industrialized travel and how it changed the way people felt and thought about space, time, and all that shit, this book is endlessly fascinating. The panorama, the way visual perception fields had to adapt, the standardization of time, the shift in how we conceive of the relationship between energy production and conveyance--examinations of all these are the core of the book. Wolfie gets a little happy with his discussion of the new traumas, physical and psychological associated with the new technology of movement, and strays into weird territory, invoking Marx and Freud in what one could only describe as some sort of commisexual comedy of terrors. There are whole chapters on the history of "shock" and the relation of its military application to travel anxieties. This sucks up the momentum of the book and falls rather flat. Also, his section on Hausmann and the ways that railroads changed the nature of cities is all too brief and could've been extended greatly.
But the good outshines the crappy. Here you can learn about the insidious train compartment and how it generated waves of terror throughout Europe, a study of the American railway (also sadly truncated), and other wacky stuff.
All in all, this is a tale of how people's ways of moving through and apprehending the world were changed by the advent of a new technological situation.
But the good outshines the crappy. Here you can learn about the insidious train compartment and how it generated waves of terror throughout Europe, a study of the American railway (also sadly truncated), and other wacky stuff.
All in all, this is a tale of how people's ways of moving through and apprehending the world were changed by the advent of a new technological situation.
January 10, 2018
I liked this best when it was focused on, well, railroads, and least when it shifted to being a general Marxist critique of industrialization. I mean, I am in fact interested in Marxist critiques of industrialization, but if that's what you want to write, I think you need a longer book, not a few chapters pasted on at the end. Likewise I found the discussion of "shock" as a medical phenomenon valuable, but I wish it had been better-integrated into the rest of the book.
But the railroad chapters were pretty great. There's a lot of things about modern life that I take for granted--upholstered furniture, say, or reading on the subway--and it was interesting to see that these are constructed phenomenon, and to trace that construction back to its origins via primary sources. Schivelbusch cites both broadly and deeply, and I can see my to-read list growing from his footnotes.
I also appreciated all the explicit discussion about how American and European railroad development differed, and why. It's helpful to understand the historic reasons behind America's curving, twisting railroads vs. European straight-line tracks, which (although Schivelbusch never explicitly mentions this, because he is of course writing in the 1970s when it's not yet relevant) probably has a lot to do with why Europe has been able to embrace high-speed railway travel to an extent the United States has not. Any book that not only helps me understand the era in which it was written, but also helps me understand the present, 40 years later, is worth reading.
But the railroad chapters were pretty great. There's a lot of things about modern life that I take for granted--upholstered furniture, say, or reading on the subway--and it was interesting to see that these are constructed phenomenon, and to trace that construction back to its origins via primary sources. Schivelbusch cites both broadly and deeply, and I can see my to-read list growing from his footnotes.
I also appreciated all the explicit discussion about how American and European railroad development differed, and why. It's helpful to understand the historic reasons behind America's curving, twisting railroads vs. European straight-line tracks, which (although Schivelbusch never explicitly mentions this, because he is of course writing in the 1970s when it's not yet relevant) probably has a lot to do with why Europe has been able to embrace high-speed railway travel to an extent the United States has not. Any book that not only helps me understand the era in which it was written, but also helps me understand the present, 40 years later, is worth reading.
June 3, 2020
An interesting book on how the railway influenced our perception of the world. Starting from the idea of mechanized travel changing the then usual travel by coach, or on foot. The author proceeds on explaining the process of developing the railroad system in Europe and the US, indicating that the two had completely different processes of evolution. There is also a fair degree of focus on the subjective effects the railroad had on people, which varied from optimism and shock to complete indifference in the case of lower classes. The railway system also had a great impact on architecture and contributed to the development of department stores which previously didn't exist. The general theme of the book is that at the time there was a large degree of anxiety oriented around this new, fast world that industrialization created which is an idea that I found interesting in comparison to the world of today. It seems to me that certain patterns stretching as far as the industrial revolution have reappeared in the contemporary digital revolution and that we have a lot to learn from this period.
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April 3, 2024i <3 trains and I 3 writing term papers
January 10, 2025
choo choo train
March 26, 2025
Spannend, historisch und marxistische analyse
March 1, 2015
I find nineteenth century social history ridiculously fascinating. Perhaps it's because we live at a time, similar to the nineteenth century industrial revolution, when technological change is suddenly fundamentally altering our understanding of the world we live in. Although written well before the current revolution in communications technology, Schivelbusch's study of how railways changed European and American consciousness is both quite readable and theoretically grounded. Using a few thinkers that I love (Marx, Benjamin and, at the very end, Foucault) and a truly impressive collection of primary source quotes, Schivelbusch argues quite convincingly that railways represented the space-time compression that is emblematic of the nineteenth century.
Schivelbusch does a great job of explaining how things we take for granted now were once completely mind-boggling. These include the idea that mechanical power is inexhaustible, that the same entity that controls the rails should also control the cars (instead of just letting whoever run their individual stagecoach style rail cars whenever they want, safety be damned ... ), and that industrial and post-industrial roads tend to run in straight lines because they exist for circulation (whereas previous cities had roads with more complex uses). Schivelbusch also makes a fascinating comparison between the change in perspective from a stagecoach to a train, and how this relates to the panorama, development of photography and ultimately, the department store. All of these new technologies shift the focus from the foreground to the distance. Or, in the case of photography and department stores, to the realm of representation, both aesthetic and that of capitalist alienation. Railways are a great topic for political economy, and Schivelbusch touches on that with his comparison of European vs American railway construction methods being shaped by the cheap labour and expensive land in Europe and conversely expensive labour and cheap land in the US. But, while alluding to it in places, his study nearly entirely leaves out the almost conspiratorial corporate capitalism that drove railway construction in both Europe and the US and, to me, that leaves the political-economy argument inexcusably underdeveloped.
Where Schivelbusch gets derailed (sorry, couldn't resist), I think, is when he gets Freudian in his discussion of fear and pathology on the railway journey. I did find his exploration of the differences between European and American compartment design both chilling and hilarious (basically Europeans were so obsessed with privacy and class that they designed train compartments that could only be entered from outside so they a) didn't have access to washrooms, and b) ran the risk of getting murdered by their fellow travellers, or at least worried about that). But, the chapters about accidents, fear of accidents and the invention of the concept of shock, while interesting, didn't really seem to relate to the rest of this book very well. As a result, I felt like the book lost a bit of steam (sorry, couldn't resist) in this part. I was also not convinced by how Schivelbusch used Freud's concept of the stimulus shield to explain the mechanism by which all of these inventions changed the collective consciousness. Finally, the development of nineteenth century railways is a huge topic and Shivelbusch's study is focused very narrowly on a handful of European countries and the US. Clearly, if you're looking for comprehensiveness, this is a big shortcoming.
Despite its imperfections, I think there's a reason this book is still available and being read 40 years on: it provides an interesting and easy to grasp interpretation of an important period in history. It wasn't gripping in the way that so much novelistic social history is these days. But, in addition to liking to read about the nineteenth century, I have a thing for trains and an art history degree, so have a high tolerance for critical theory being applied with a broad brush to narrow questions (especially when it's Marx and Benjamin!). If that sounds like you, get on board (sorry! couldn't resist that terrible pun, either.)
Schivelbusch does a great job of explaining how things we take for granted now were once completely mind-boggling. These include the idea that mechanical power is inexhaustible, that the same entity that controls the rails should also control the cars (instead of just letting whoever run their individual stagecoach style rail cars whenever they want, safety be damned ... ), and that industrial and post-industrial roads tend to run in straight lines because they exist for circulation (whereas previous cities had roads with more complex uses). Schivelbusch also makes a fascinating comparison between the change in perspective from a stagecoach to a train, and how this relates to the panorama, development of photography and ultimately, the department store. All of these new technologies shift the focus from the foreground to the distance. Or, in the case of photography and department stores, to the realm of representation, both aesthetic and that of capitalist alienation. Railways are a great topic for political economy, and Schivelbusch touches on that with his comparison of European vs American railway construction methods being shaped by the cheap labour and expensive land in Europe and conversely expensive labour and cheap land in the US. But, while alluding to it in places, his study nearly entirely leaves out the almost conspiratorial corporate capitalism that drove railway construction in both Europe and the US and, to me, that leaves the political-economy argument inexcusably underdeveloped.
Where Schivelbusch gets derailed (sorry, couldn't resist), I think, is when he gets Freudian in his discussion of fear and pathology on the railway journey. I did find his exploration of the differences between European and American compartment design both chilling and hilarious (basically Europeans were so obsessed with privacy and class that they designed train compartments that could only be entered from outside so they a) didn't have access to washrooms, and b) ran the risk of getting murdered by their fellow travellers, or at least worried about that). But, the chapters about accidents, fear of accidents and the invention of the concept of shock, while interesting, didn't really seem to relate to the rest of this book very well. As a result, I felt like the book lost a bit of steam (sorry, couldn't resist) in this part. I was also not convinced by how Schivelbusch used Freud's concept of the stimulus shield to explain the mechanism by which all of these inventions changed the collective consciousness. Finally, the development of nineteenth century railways is a huge topic and Shivelbusch's study is focused very narrowly on a handful of European countries and the US. Clearly, if you're looking for comprehensiveness, this is a big shortcoming.
Despite its imperfections, I think there's a reason this book is still available and being read 40 years on: it provides an interesting and easy to grasp interpretation of an important period in history. It wasn't gripping in the way that so much novelistic social history is these days. But, in addition to liking to read about the nineteenth century, I have a thing for trains and an art history degree, so have a high tolerance for critical theory being applied with a broad brush to narrow questions (especially when it's Marx and Benjamin!). If that sounds like you, get on board (sorry! couldn't resist that terrible pun, either.)
May 13, 2024
I came across The Railway Journey in some newsletter after Wolfgang Schivelbusch's death earlier this year. I can't recall the exact excerpt, but it must have been brilliant because I bought the book immediately. Now that I've read this, it's my favorite nonfiction read of 2023.
This is a critical cultural study of railroads and explores how this mode of travel had shook and reshaped our perception of time and space and, thereby, our social and cultural expectations. The book is full of vivid details from primary sources from Britain and the United States. Initially, people were discomforted. Passengers couldn't enjoy the view because the locomotive is faster than a horse carriage. They couldn't bear the embarrassment of sitting across from one another inside a compartment, so they started reading books and newspapers. Yet, this was only true for the first- and second-class travelers. The third-class carriages didn't have compartments: far from being serene and quiet, their carriages were observed to be merry and loud, almost to the envy of the first and second class passengers. Railroad accidents opened up new areas of pathology--"shock" became a diagnostic and colloquial term--and the volume of traffic the trains brought into cities accelerated urban development.
As I was reading, I was frequently reminded of ChatGPT and consumer AI--we, too, are experiencing an advent of new technology just like the Europeans and Americans in the 19th century. The scale might be smaller, but like railroads, there is trepidation in the air: a new piece of technology that promises to shrink our world only to belittle us. If we are to draw any lesson from the past, it's a Foucauldian one: the anxieties and fears are likely to be overcome through the entrenchment of the existing hierarchy and our submission to surveillance disguised as advancement.
This is a critical cultural study of railroads and explores how this mode of travel had shook and reshaped our perception of time and space and, thereby, our social and cultural expectations. The book is full of vivid details from primary sources from Britain and the United States. Initially, people were discomforted. Passengers couldn't enjoy the view because the locomotive is faster than a horse carriage. They couldn't bear the embarrassment of sitting across from one another inside a compartment, so they started reading books and newspapers. Yet, this was only true for the first- and second-class travelers. The third-class carriages didn't have compartments: far from being serene and quiet, their carriages were observed to be merry and loud, almost to the envy of the first and second class passengers. Railroad accidents opened up new areas of pathology--"shock" became a diagnostic and colloquial term--and the volume of traffic the trains brought into cities accelerated urban development.
As I was reading, I was frequently reminded of ChatGPT and consumer AI--we, too, are experiencing an advent of new technology just like the Europeans and Americans in the 19th century. The scale might be smaller, but like railroads, there is trepidation in the air: a new piece of technology that promises to shrink our world only to belittle us. If we are to draw any lesson from the past, it's a Foucauldian one: the anxieties and fears are likely to be overcome through the entrenchment of the existing hierarchy and our submission to surveillance disguised as advancement.
June 16, 2016
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
The impact of constant technological change upon our perception of the world is so pervasive and have become commonplace in our society. But this wasn't always the case; as Schivelbusch points out, our adaptation to technological change was very much a learned behavior. In The Railway Journey, he examines the origins of industrialized consciousness by exploring the reactions to the many cultural and sociological changes brought about by the railroad.
The impact of constant technological change upon our perception of the world is so pervasive and have become commonplace in our society. But this wasn't always the case; as Schivelbusch points out, our adaptation to technological change was very much a learned behavior. In The Railway Journey, he examines the origins of industrialized consciousness by exploring the reactions to the many cultural and sociological changes brought about by the railroad.
September 4, 2020
(Iz kolumne za Regionalni tjednik / kolovoz 2020)
U ovotjednom tekstu podijelit ću s Vama neka od zanimljivih saznanja koja sam stekla čitajući knjigu „Povijest putovanja željeznicom. O industrijalizaciji prostora i vremena u 19. stoljeću“, autora Wolfganga Schivelbuscha. Originalno njemačko izdanje knjige objavljeno je 1977. godine. Naslovom se knjiga možda doima suhoparnom te nipošto kao štivo za kojim bi čovjek posegnuo u svoje slobodno vrijeme. Međutim, sjetimo se svima dobro nam znane narodne mudrosti da se knjizi ne sudi prema koricama. Ni prema koricama, a u slučaju ove knjige, nadovezat ću se, ni prema naslovu.
Schivelbusch u knjizi progovara o znakovitim promjenama potaknutima industrijskom revolucijom, napose revolucijom sustava prometanja, u drugoj polovici 18. stoljeća i u 19. stoljeću. Prostorni kontekst zahvaćen knjigom zemlje su Zapadne Europe, ponajviše Engleska i Francuska, te Sjeverna Amerika. Velik tehnološki zaokret koji je nastupio pojavom željeznice, odrazio se na sve aspekte ljudske svakodnevice. Budući da autor podosta prostora posvećuje utjecajima željeznice na ljudsku svijest, ne bi bilo pogrešno preformulira li se podnaslov knjige u „O industrijalizaciji prostora, vremena i SVIJESTI u 19. stoljeću“.
Do pojave željeznice putovalo se pješice, na konju ili u kočiji. Kočija se kao sredstvo putovanja etablirala u 17. stoljeću, što je povezano s uvođenjem niza drugih građanskih običaja u život Zapadne Europe (kavane, klubovi, novine, kazalište itd.). Zbog relativno male brzine kretanja kočije, putnik ostvaruje prisan odnos s krajolikom kroz koji se prolazi. Prisnost se ostvaruje i među putnicima koji zajedno putuju u kočiji. Po autorovu mišljenju, pretpostavka interakcije putnika u kočiji, njezin je specifičan oblik, onaj slova „U“.
Tu prisnost i intenzitet putovanja dokida željeznica. Zbog neuobičajeno velike brzine, devetnaestostoljetni čovjek željeznicu metaforički naziva „projektilom“, a putovanje njome „pucnjem kroz krajolik“. Blizak odnos između putnika i proputovana krajolika, karakterističan za putovanje kočijom, prekida se iz razloga što pogled kroz prozor jurećeg vlaka suviše opterećuje putnikov opažajni aparat: „Najbliže predmete, stabla, kolibe i slično, ne može se više pravo razlikovati; a kad se naknadno želimo okrenuti za njima, oni su odavna prošli“ (iz ranih opisa putovanja željeznicom, 1840. godine). Pogled kroz prozor putnik stoga nadomješta novom zanimacijom – putnom lektirom.
Krajem 40–ih godina 19. stoljeća u Engleskoj se javlja organizirano kolodvorsko knjižničarstvo. Ulazak u knjižaru na londonskom kolodvoru naplaćivao se jedan penij, a uz dodatnu pristojbu putnik je mogao posuditi knjigu i vratiti je na odredištu svog putovanja. Sličan primjer nedugo kasnije slijede i francuski kolodvori u ponudi čijih je knjižara putnik mogao birati između djela francuske književnosti, klasične književnosti, vodiča, putopisa, agrikulture, industrije, knjiga za djecu itd. Svakako valja naglasiti da su čitatelji engleskih i francuskih vlakova bili isključivo pripadnici građanskih slojeva društva. Pogled uperen u knjigu bio je učinkovit način izbjegavanja neugodne tišine koja je vladala među putnicima u kupeima 1. i 2. razreda.
Kada malo promislimo, prodaja knjiga nije strana ni suvremenim kolodvorima. Sve ima svoje zašto, slažete se?
Lea Šprajc
U ovotjednom tekstu podijelit ću s Vama neka od zanimljivih saznanja koja sam stekla čitajući knjigu „Povijest putovanja željeznicom. O industrijalizaciji prostora i vremena u 19. stoljeću“, autora Wolfganga Schivelbuscha. Originalno njemačko izdanje knjige objavljeno je 1977. godine. Naslovom se knjiga možda doima suhoparnom te nipošto kao štivo za kojim bi čovjek posegnuo u svoje slobodno vrijeme. Međutim, sjetimo se svima dobro nam znane narodne mudrosti da se knjizi ne sudi prema koricama. Ni prema koricama, a u slučaju ove knjige, nadovezat ću se, ni prema naslovu.
Schivelbusch u knjizi progovara o znakovitim promjenama potaknutima industrijskom revolucijom, napose revolucijom sustava prometanja, u drugoj polovici 18. stoljeća i u 19. stoljeću. Prostorni kontekst zahvaćen knjigom zemlje su Zapadne Europe, ponajviše Engleska i Francuska, te Sjeverna Amerika. Velik tehnološki zaokret koji je nastupio pojavom željeznice, odrazio se na sve aspekte ljudske svakodnevice. Budući da autor podosta prostora posvećuje utjecajima željeznice na ljudsku svijest, ne bi bilo pogrešno preformulira li se podnaslov knjige u „O industrijalizaciji prostora, vremena i SVIJESTI u 19. stoljeću“.
Do pojave željeznice putovalo se pješice, na konju ili u kočiji. Kočija se kao sredstvo putovanja etablirala u 17. stoljeću, što je povezano s uvođenjem niza drugih građanskih običaja u život Zapadne Europe (kavane, klubovi, novine, kazalište itd.). Zbog relativno male brzine kretanja kočije, putnik ostvaruje prisan odnos s krajolikom kroz koji se prolazi. Prisnost se ostvaruje i među putnicima koji zajedno putuju u kočiji. Po autorovu mišljenju, pretpostavka interakcije putnika u kočiji, njezin je specifičan oblik, onaj slova „U“.
Tu prisnost i intenzitet putovanja dokida željeznica. Zbog neuobičajeno velike brzine, devetnaestostoljetni čovjek željeznicu metaforički naziva „projektilom“, a putovanje njome „pucnjem kroz krajolik“. Blizak odnos između putnika i proputovana krajolika, karakterističan za putovanje kočijom, prekida se iz razloga što pogled kroz prozor jurećeg vlaka suviše opterećuje putnikov opažajni aparat: „Najbliže predmete, stabla, kolibe i slično, ne može se više pravo razlikovati; a kad se naknadno želimo okrenuti za njima, oni su odavna prošli“ (iz ranih opisa putovanja željeznicom, 1840. godine). Pogled kroz prozor putnik stoga nadomješta novom zanimacijom – putnom lektirom.
Krajem 40–ih godina 19. stoljeća u Engleskoj se javlja organizirano kolodvorsko knjižničarstvo. Ulazak u knjižaru na londonskom kolodvoru naplaćivao se jedan penij, a uz dodatnu pristojbu putnik je mogao posuditi knjigu i vratiti je na odredištu svog putovanja. Sličan primjer nedugo kasnije slijede i francuski kolodvori u ponudi čijih je knjižara putnik mogao birati između djela francuske književnosti, klasične književnosti, vodiča, putopisa, agrikulture, industrije, knjiga za djecu itd. Svakako valja naglasiti da su čitatelji engleskih i francuskih vlakova bili isključivo pripadnici građanskih slojeva društva. Pogled uperen u knjigu bio je učinkovit način izbjegavanja neugodne tišine koja je vladala među putnicima u kupeima 1. i 2. razreda.
Kada malo promislimo, prodaja knjiga nije strana ni suvremenim kolodvorima. Sve ima svoje zašto, slažete se?
Lea Šprajc
June 23, 2024
I first discovered this book when it was referenced on Khan Academy, in the YouTube video 'The Railroad Journey and the Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History 214' uploaded by the channel CrashCourse, in the article 'WATCH: Railroads and the Industrial Revolution', in Unit 6, in the course 'World History Project - Origins to the Present'. In the video, the narrator, John Green, states that he does not agree with everything in this book - it is one interpretation of a series of events, but it contains a "ton of interesting ideas" and it is "one of those books that makes you think differently about the world". Green goes on to quote the author: "new modes of behaviour and perception enabled the traveler to lose the fear that he formerly felt towards the new conveyance. The sinister aspect of the machinery that first was so evident and frightening gradually disappeared, and with this disappearance, fear waned and was replaced by a feeling of security based on familiarity." Green also states that one of the best things about book like this one, is that they help us to draw parallels between the past and the present and get us to focus on overlooked aspects of history, like what it meant for people to ride on trains for the first time.
January 28, 2022
Read this to understand how the railways changed the objective and subjective world, and more importantly to see Darlington's role in this.
Key takeaways from me:
- The railways changed the perception of time and space. The former because previously time was literally different in London to Manchester. The latter because all of a sudden the other end of France was 'the suburbs of Paris'. England also had a different relationships between rails and the natural environment, more likely to cut straight through rather than follow the bend of the rivers (As a result of labour/capital/technological differences)
- Railways changed habits. Reading on train started (And so did WH Smiths btw) because it was now steady and English people didn't want to speak to each other, lol.
- People were scared of being murdered in a railway carriage. Also trains crashed all the time so they came up with a condition 'railway spine' to explain it, first physically then psychologically.
- The railways also might have changed people's own relationship to the external world. This point was maybe abit over the top but the argument is something like: the railway fundamentally changed the relationship visually (panoramic vision where you can't see what's in the foreground because of high speeds) and conceptually (link no longer to an animal that gets tired but to a machine) to the externally world. The feeling of being a 'package' or part of a machine changed things in a big way.
Phrases that popped up a lot and are probably important:
- The 'annihilation of space and time'
Key takeaways from me:
- The railways changed the perception of time and space. The former because previously time was literally different in London to Manchester. The latter because all of a sudden the other end of France was 'the suburbs of Paris'. England also had a different relationships between rails and the natural environment, more likely to cut straight through rather than follow the bend of the rivers (As a result of labour/capital/technological differences)
- Railways changed habits. Reading on train started (And so did WH Smiths btw) because it was now steady and English people didn't want to speak to each other, lol.
- People were scared of being murdered in a railway carriage. Also trains crashed all the time so they came up with a condition 'railway spine' to explain it, first physically then psychologically.
- The railways also might have changed people's own relationship to the external world. This point was maybe abit over the top but the argument is something like: the railway fundamentally changed the relationship visually (panoramic vision where you can't see what's in the foreground because of high speeds) and conceptually (link no longer to an animal that gets tired but to a machine) to the externally world. The feeling of being a 'package' or part of a machine changed things in a big way.
Phrases that popped up a lot and are probably important:
- The 'annihilation of space and time'
September 6, 2022
For the UK reader it’s enlightening to find commentary on early US railway experience, particularly the separate development of the passenger carriage. Schivelbusch trawls through literary fiction and anecdote but strangely neglects the role of commercial and fine art. Travelling through tunnels is also neglected with London’s pioneering and important Metropolitan Railway not even getting a mention. Still, the book is an interesting journey until Schivelbusch runs out of puff two thirds of the way through when he embarks on a meander through nervous shock theories and the conception of Parisian department stores which is only remotely related to the railway journey. In my 1986 paperback edition there’s no bibliography, only a note, and the index is merely a list of people which is unhelpful.
March 28, 2020
Wenn einen der erste Satz nicht schon direkt wegbläst, dann weiß ich auch nicht:
"An der technischen Entwicklung der Dampfmaschine im 18. Jahrhundert läßt sich der Prozess der Emanzipation der modernen Produktionsweise von den Schranken der organischen Natur verfolgen."
Genau das wird auf 220 Seiten ausgeführt und sorgt bei Freunden der Eisenbahn (wie mir) oder auch der Industrialisierung für Begeisterungsstürme.
ps.: Bin über den Querverweis von Rebecca Solnits "Wanderlust" hier gelandet - quasi das Gegenstück zu diesem Buch, wenn wir über Flanieren sprechen.
"An der technischen Entwicklung der Dampfmaschine im 18. Jahrhundert läßt sich der Prozess der Emanzipation der modernen Produktionsweise von den Schranken der organischen Natur verfolgen."
Genau das wird auf 220 Seiten ausgeführt und sorgt bei Freunden der Eisenbahn (wie mir) oder auch der Industrialisierung für Begeisterungsstürme.
ps.: Bin über den Querverweis von Rebecca Solnits "Wanderlust" hier gelandet - quasi das Gegenstück zu diesem Buch, wenn wir über Flanieren sprechen.
November 11, 2019
Maybe more accurately a 3.5-3.75. I wanted to like it more, I love the content dealing with perception and how it was mediated by technology, it's like the foundation of what I study, but I'm also a stickler for good organization and clarity, and this book makes little attempt at either. Yet, it is still fascinating, and with enough time is a great read, it's just a little harder on that grad student schedule.
September 5, 2019
This is an excellent book about the social and cultural context of the railways. I was surprised how detailed and well written this book is. There were lots of things that I have found really interesting and astonishing. And I am not really a railway fanatic but just somebody who enjoys travelling and learning about our history.
January 1, 2025
4th non-fiction read of the year. This had some really interesting thoughts and arguments, but certain chapters captivated me way more than others. I did learn a lot though, and certain aspects inspired me for writing future stories.
August 12, 2025
Tja. Läste den pga översättaren, Gunnar Sandin.. Järnvägshistorker, översättare och aktiv i VPK i Lund på 70-80-90-talet. Spelade bastuba i Röda Kapellet.Vandrarentusiast.
Boken ställvis intressant men alltför högtflygande för min simpla smak.
Boken ställvis intressant men alltför högtflygande för min simpla smak.
June 18, 2018
Outstanding book, but the writing style could have been a bit easier.
July 3, 2019
作者作为社会历史学家，却具有科学家的严谨和人文学者的优美文笔。非常值得阅读。
July 23, 2019
A classic from the golden age of sweeping cultural histories. This has been very influential to me.
May 12, 2020
这本书的阅读体验实在是有些艰难，玄之又玄的书写模式使得行文充斥着概念化抽象化的用词和描述，让人读完有种每个字都认识但连起来却看不懂的感叹。可能是我浅薄了。不过整本书坚持下来还是能发���一些从未发觉的洞见，例如火车的出现如何颠覆人们的认知，从生理到心理，再到文化认知的形成。最后将铁路与百货商店比拟的说法也有点意思。
January 6, 2022
12/10
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February 16, 2022产品经理 纸书 值得做笔记 培养产业亲和度首选读物 铁路，工业史，科技史，社会史，尼玛还加了一些对医学的影响。这个书的范围太广了，科普读物没问题，如果想要理解铁路不管是从科技上、交通上还是经济上的影响，不从整体上来看感觉还是没有系统性，因为他们之间都是相互重度关联的。需要主题阅读！
February 28, 2023
A good book when it doesn't suddenly completely jettison itself off the rails into a random pit of military history or a Freudian turn.
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